On Tuesday, Statistics New Zealand released some very interesting numbers for the next 20 years.
According to the figures, the amount of Asian New Zealanders will increase the most, with an estimated 1.2 million calling NZ home, and the Maori population will be well over one million by then as well.
- Stats NZ: Asians predicted to become NZ's second-largest ethnic group by 2038
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Despite the 'European or Other' ethnic group's population rising from 3.3 million in 2013 to 3.6-4.0 million in 2038, the ethnic share of this group is projected to fall from 75 percent of New Zealand's population in 2013 to 66 percent in 2038.
Estimates suggest the country's population will be as much as 6.3 million by 2038.
"We've opened the gates, we've let the people in, and we're now getting the reaction to that," Host Duncan Garner says.
Massey University Professor of Sociology Paul Spoonley says we need to "take charge" over our immigration policy, and direct immigrants to the regions as they need them.
"One of the things we need to design is where we send the immigrants, because I think what the stats show is that the growth - New Zealander's growing quite fast," he says.
"The numbers coming in are huge. We're taking almost twice the number of immigrants Australia is, and we're taking three times the number of immigrants that the UK is. That seems a bit high to me."
Growth is predicted for all four ethnic groups, but higher rates of birth and migration are likely to lead to higher rates of population increase for Maori, Asian, and Pacific populations, according to Statistics NZ analysis.
"We really are an Asia-Pacific nation for the first time," Mr Spoonley says.
Ashburton is cited as a place that's coping very well with population increase, and Mayor Donna Favel says her town would be "very bland" without migrants.
"We do need migrants - in fact we have a lot of employers looking to fill positions from teaching to health, truck drivers, agriculture - we desperately are still looking for employees," she says.
She says the lack of New Zealanders available to be employed means there are numerous job openings available in her district.
"I would say in the hundreds. We have a lot of employers who tell me they're struggling to get employees," she says.
"Many of our big employers now, 30 percent of their payroll is migrants."
Newshub.
